Automated blood culture testing.

BACTEREMIA diagnosis; SEPSIS; BACTERIA; COLLECTION & preservation of biological specimens; COST control; INFORMATION storage & retrieval systems; MEDICAL databases; COMPUTERS in medicine; MICROBIOLOGICAL techniques; PATHOLOGICAL laboratories; TIME; YEAST; CONTINUING education units; RETROSPECTIVE studies; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; STANDARDS; DIAGNOSIS

The article offers information on a study at the Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia on the effectiveness of automated blood culture testing in the diagnosis of clinically suspected bacteremia or septicemia. Topics include the importance of appropriate antimicrobial management, the need to reduce methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and the HACEK group of organisms like Haemophilus, Cardiobacterium, and Kingella.